Quarto reported earnings for the year ended December 31, 2021, with sales of $151.5 million, up from $127 million in 2020, a 19 percent increase. US sales of $93.4 million were up by $17 million. UK sales were $20.2 million, up $2 million, and non-UK sales in Europe were $21.2 million, up from $17.4 million last year. The company said a release the gains were due to “Clear focus on maximizing the group’s core strengths, retaining a disciplined business model, further debt reduction and developing future growth opportunities.” Operating profit was $16 million, up from $9.3 million. The company lists […]
Archives for March 2022
Office Updates: HBG Sets April Return Dates, Macmillan to Start Pilot, and More
Hachette Book Group ceo Michael Pietsch announced to employees dates they will be expected to return to the office: April 18 in Berkeley, Boulder, Chapel Hill, Nashville, Philadelphia, Portland, Toronto; April 25 in New York and May 2 in Boston and North Adams. In a 6-month pilot program, “HBG will follow a hybrid model, with all fully vaccinated office-based staff members required to work from the office two days per week (with the exception of those whose roles require full-time on-site presence, such as facilities and warehouse colleagues). These in-office days will be fixed, which will help coordinate interactions with the […]
Your Chance to Ask Literary Agent/Author Kristin van Ogtrop anything (almost anything)
Join Discuss online at this Publishers Marketplace link Wednesday, March 23 at noon Eastern for an AMA with author and literary agent Kristin van Ogtrop. She joined InkWell Management in 2018 after a decade as an InkWell client. Her books include Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for a Half-Insane Working Mom (Little, Brown, 2010) and the essay collection Did I Say That Out Loud: Midlife Indignities and How to Survive Them (Little, Brown, 2020). To participate in Discuss, just sign in and use the “reply” button to type your questions or comments, and Kristin will post back.
Sourcebooks Acquires Duopress
Sourcebooks has acquired Duopress, a “a minority-owned independent publisher of innovative, high-quality, and affordable books and gifts.” The Duopress list includes “board books, regional board books, counting books, and doodle books,” as well as nonfiction middle-grade titles and more. Duopress founder Mauricio Velázquez de León said, “I’ve always admired the energy and publishing IQ of Dominique Raccah and her extraordinary team at Sourcebooks, and we are incredibly excited to start this new chapter for duopress.”
Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Awards
Two British Publishers Self-Censor Books Printed in China
Two British publishers have edited books that are printed in China based on Chinese regulations on free speech, the Financial Times reports. The titles from Quarto and Hachette UK’s Octopus Books were manufactured for western distribution but, like many illustrated books from US and UK presses, produced in China because it’s cheaper to print there. Since 2020, in separate books Quarto has removed references to Hong Kong and dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. In addition, the FT writes, “the nationality of people mentioned in one book was also changed from Taiwanese to East Asian, while references to Tibet, a region […]